Did you know Wisconsin has agricultural royalty?
Halei Heinzel was crowned as Wisconsin’s 77th Alice in Dairyland earlier this summer.
During her year-long tenure, she’ll promote the state’s agriculture industry and the ways it impacts our lives.
She spoke with Lake Effect’s Xcaret Nuñez to share how she earned the title of Alice in Dairyland and what her job consists of week-to-week.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
For people who aren't familiar with Alice in Dairyland, can you tell us what you do?
I serve as Wisconsin's official agricultural ambassador for our state's $104.8 billion agriculture industry. I work for the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, doing things all the way from visiting agricultural events like the state fair and county fairs. I also do Farm Bureau meetings. I'm in classrooms doing some agricultural presentations. You'll also hear me on the radio and see me on TV occasionally talking about agriculture.
So just to clarify, as Alice in Dairyland, promoting dairy is only part of your job?
Absolutely! I like to say that there's a lot more than dairy here in America's Dairyland — we scope the entire agriculture industry, from cattle to swine, corn, cranberries, Christmas trees and everything in between. There is so much to learn and love here in Wisconsin's diverse agriculture industry.
I’ve read that even the jewel on Alice in Dairyland’s crown is from Wisconsin.
Yeah! So the crown jewel on my tiara is an amethyst, which is the state gemstone of Wisconsin, but I also have a couple of citrines on there which are also native to Wisconsin, and the tiara honors the mining history here in the state of Wisconsin. That's why we're called the Wisconsin Badgers.
The process of becoming Alice is pretty rigorous. Can you tell me a bit about what you did to become Alice in Dairyland?
Absolutely. They say it's one of the most difficult job interviews you'll have in your entire life. Thank goodness for that, it's all downhill from here! But I started with an interview in January of this year at the DATCP office, and then I was announced as a top candidate of six women eligible for the role of becoming Alice, and that was in the host county of Door County this year. Then, throughout the next few months, I was learning all about what it means to be an ambassador for agriculture and how to best represent our program partners for the Alice in Dairyland program. We also did some weekly assignments, kind of proving that we could do the role. An example is creating a social media post or a video, kind of showing that Alice does a lot of different things. Then in May, we went back to the host county, in Door County, for a three-day, partially public job interview. So, there were some portions that were open to the public to view, where we were giving speeches. There were some opportunities to be on the radio and TV. We also did six industry tours, learning more about agriculture, specifically in Door County. Then at the end of that process, Alice is finally selected. And I was lucky enough that it was me this year.
So you said you start in January, what was going on for all of those months up until May?
So I was actually in school at the time; I just graduated from the University of Wisconsin Madison in May. So during that whole process of becoming Alice, where I was doing those weekly lessons and learning about being Alice, I was also trying to graduate college. I was also working on an internship and I had an on campus job, so I had quite a few things going on in between January and May, but it was a lot of fun. Definitely, if you're looking to become Alice, anyone can become Alice over the age of 21 — you just need three years of experience in the agricultural communications field. Those applications will be going out in January of this year. I highly recommend it. Anybody becomes a better person on the other side of running [to become] Alice in Dairyland.
You were the only one out of six candidates who didn't grow up on a farm. You're from urban Oconomowoc, which I think speaks to the idea that you don't need to come from an agriculture upbringing to work within the ag industry. What personally draws you to do this kind of work?
I was always really curious about where my food came from. And of course, I loved farm animals, cows and horses and all of that. But growing up, I really always wondered where the farmers were in my community. I had never met one until I got to high school, and I realized that it wasn't that farmers weren't out there, it was just that I didn't recognize them or see them.
They’re our neighbors, they’re our community members. Even here in Milwaukee, there are still people doing urban agriculture with hydroponics — there are farmers and food producers everywhere.
I joined the FFA organization in high school, and in 2018 I milked a cow for the first time, which is what really set me on the path toward continuing to learn everything I could about Wisconsin agriculture. When I originally started college, I thought I was going to be a large animal veterinarian. I thought that was the best way to work with cows for the rest of my life. But throughout college, I got to meet Alice in Dairyland for the first time at the Wisconsin State Fair, and seeing how she was able to connect with consumers and share the story that I wanted to hear growing up felt so important. So I went back to college that fall and switched my major from dairy science to life sciences communication in order to pursue becoming Alice.
I just want to say I believe Alice's and passionate people and farmers can come from anywhere — whether you’re an eighth-generation farmer growing up on a farm or you have never milked a cow in your life. You can get involved in agriculture at any age, and I hope I stand as a testament to that.
I don't think a lot of people realize the amount of work that goes into being Alice in Dairyland. Can you tell me what an average work week looks like for you?
I'm doing quite a few things. Sometimes I get lucky and I half a day off during the week, and sometimes I'm working seven days a week, just like our farmers. It really ranges depending on the season. Sometimes, if I'm doing a marketing campaign, I will be on TV or on the radio five or six times, maybe 7-10 times in a week, depending on what the campaign is. We're looking forward to our holiday campaign right now, so I know I'll be on the road a lot for that.
In the afternoons, I'm normally visiting lots of events. Sometimes I'm a keynote speaker, and sometimes I'm just there to learn. Some days, I'm out on the farm learning—whether it's to be a cranberry producer, a potato grower, or a dairy farmer for a day—and seeing how all the different farms across Wisconsin work.
Then I go on social media and teach other people about what a day in the life of a cranberry producer looks like. So it's a lot of fun! I get to do something different every single day. Some days I have one thing on the schedule, and some days I have four things that are all the way across the state from each other.
I think my busiest day was when I went from Madison to the Juneau County Fair, then back across to the eastern side of the state to the Dodge County Fair, then up north to Kewaunee for a farm-to-table dinner. Then I went back down to Madison at the end of the day. And that’s not even nearly as crazy as it gets, but it is a lot of fun. It's a lot of work, but I like to say I have the best day every day, and it only gets better because I love getting to meet new people along the way.
When you give a presentation or a speech, what's a big takeaway you hope people come away with or know about Wisconsin?
Going back to what I said earlier, it's so important that Wisconsin agriculture is for everyone. One of the questions I ask in classrooms is, How are you connected to agriculture? And I'll sometimes get students raise their hand and say, “Well, I'm not. I'm not at all connected to agriculture. My family doesn't work on a farm, and I've never seen a cow.”
I like to say there are three ways that we're connected to agriculture. Every single day we eat, every day we wear clothes, which sometimes are cotton or wool, and those are agricultural products. And whether we drive, or our moms or dads drive or we take the bus — cars are fueled by ethanol, which is corn. So those are three ways that we're connected: the food, fiber and fuel products every single day of Wisconsin agriculture. But there are so many other ways to get involved. And like I said, it's not always working on a farm. There are just so many ways to get involved with agriculture. And I think that's the most important message I have to spread.
I know you just started two months ago, but kind of looking ahead, what do you hope to do after Alice in Dairyland? Do you think you'll want to continue working within the agriculture industry?
One-thousand percent, yes! I don't quite know what yet — I'm putting my whole heart and soul into Alice right now, and Alice is a dream job for me. I feel like it hits every single one of the boxes that I wanted to do when I graduated college. I get to be a communicator and an educator, and I get to see animals and work with people and work with agriculture. It's the best job in the whole world, at least in my opinion. And once I'm done being Alice, I know that I'll continue telling the story of Wisconsin agriculture and our rural Americans, and I think that is also the best job in the whole world.
You can keep up with Halei’s Wisconsin agriculture travels on Instagram and Facebook.
